According to ABC News, a mass shooting occurred last weekend on the campus of Brown University, leaving two students dead and nine others injured. Police confirmed on Thursday (December 18) that the suspect has been found dead and was the same individual who shot and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor two days later in Massachusetts.
Law enforcement confirmed at a press conference that the suspect was 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University graduate student who studied at the school approximately 25 years ago. Police stated that Valente died by suicide. His body was discovered inside a storage facility in New Hampshire, bringing an end to a multi-day, multi-state manhunt.
No evidence of accomplices; motive still unknown
Police said there is currently no evidence that Valente acted in concert with anyone else. Investigators have reconstructed his movements before and after the shootings, including how he deliberately evaded law enforcement tracking.
However, authorities have not yet disclosed a clear motive for the two fatal shootings. The incidents left residents across parts of New England in a heightened state of anxiety for several days.
Brown University President Christina Paxson stated that Valente enrolled in 2000 as a PhD student in physics, remained at the university for less than one year, then took a leave of absence and formally withdrew. She noted that as a physics student, he frequently accessed the Barus & Holley Engineering Building, which is where the shooting occurred.
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Law enforcement said Valente entered the United States in 2000 on a student visa and obtained lawful permanent resident status in 2017. He had no current academic or employment relationship with Brown University.
Key link between the Brown University and MIT shootings
Massachusetts prosecutors confirmed that Valente was also the suspect in the Monday night shooting that killed Nuno F.G. Loureiro, an MIT professor, in Brookline, a suburb of Boston. Both men were Portuguese nationals. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley stated that investigators believe the two studied in the same academic program in Portugal during the 1990s.
Foley noted that it was only one or two days after the incidents that investigators were able to establish a clear connection between the two seemingly unrelated cases.
Investigators found that Valente’s last registered address was in Miami. He rented a hotel room in Boston in late November and rented a gray Nissan Sentra with Florida license plates on Dec. 1. The vehicle was later seen multiple times near the Brown University campus.
‘Key Tipster’ breaks the case; suspect dies by suicide
Police said the breakthrough came from a tip provided by a member of the public. Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said surveillance footage and a detailed report involving a “gray vehicle with Florida plates” helped authorities quickly identify the suspect.
The New York Post reported that the tipster was a homeless man referred to as “John.” He briefly encountered the suspect inside Brown’s engineering building on the day of the shooting and later posted on Reddit urging police to investigate the vehicle. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha praised him for “cracking the entire case open” and said he is eligible for a $50,000 reward.
After tracing the rental vehicle, police tracked Valente to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. On Thursday evening, FBI tactical agents executed a search warrant and discovered Valente’s body in an adjacent storage unit. Two firearms were found with him, and the cause of death was confirmed as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Immigration policy tightened; green card lottery suspended
According to the Associated Press, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery Program. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the suspect obtained his immigrant visa and green card through the program in 2017.
“This depraved individual should never have been allowed to enter the United States,” Noem wrote on social media platform X.
The program issues up to 50,000 green cards annually through a lottery system, primarily to applicants from countries with low rates of U.S. immigration. Portuguese citizens received only 38 slots in the 2025 lottery. The suspension is expected to face legal challenges.
Trump has long opposed the visa lottery program, and the move is widely seen as his latest effort to further tighten immigration policy following a major security incident.
